Foreign soldiers assisting the tsunami relief effort in Indonesia's devastated Aceh province will have to leave by the end of March, the Jakarta government said today.

The Indonseian vice-president, Jusuf Kalla, said troops should be gone "the sooner the better", and added that three months should be enough time for them to complete their work.

The announcement came as Indonesia moved to assert greater control over the relief effort. The government is believed to be grateful for the help offered, but uneasy about the number of foreign aid workers and soldiers in Aceh, where seperatists have been fighting government troops for decades.

Aid workers were today told that their safety could not be guaranteed outside Banda Aceh, the main city, and the ravaged town of Meulaboh, and ordered to declare their travel plans or risk expulsion.

Indonesia's military has warned that separatist fighters could rob aid convoys and use refugee camps as hideouts, but has yet to offer evidence to support its claims.

A government statement said it would be "placed in a very difficult position" if any foreigner who came to Aceh was harmed, but Clive Williams, an Australian defence expert, told the Associated Press that the Indonesians wanted to conceal military corruption.

"The big problem with dealing with [the Indonesian military] in Aceh is that they're involved in a lot of corruption there, and the reason I think they don't want people to go to some areas is because they're involved in human rights abuses," he said. "Having a situation of martial law and then civil emergency has allowed them to get away with a lot."

Wary of Indonesia's sensitivities, US marines have scaled back their plans to send hundreds of troops ashore to build roads and clear rubble. Commanders have also agreed that their troops would not carry guns while on Indonesian soil, and that the majority of troops would return to ships stationed off the coast after each day's work.

Getting help to the neediest is already a logistical nightmare, with roads having been washed away or blocked by fallen trees.

More than 100,000 people in the province have been killed, and tens of thousands left homeless. It is on the northern tip of Sumatra island, which was closest to the epicentre of the earthquake that triggered the December 26 tsunami.

The death toll from the tsunami today stands at 158,638, with Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India having suffered the most fatalities.

Today's developments came as the Paris Club of creditor nations was expected to approve a plan to suspend debt repayments for countries hit by the tsunami. Indonesia - the hardest-hit country - has said that, in addition to a debt freeze, it also needs more donations to cope with the disaster.

Not all members of the Paris Club support a debt moratorium, and the Australian prime minister, John Howard, has expressed concern that freezing debts would not help those most in need. However, decisions on debt relief are taken by consensus rather than unanimity.

Some of the other affected countries, such as Thailand, have said they do not believe a debt moratorium is the best form of assistance.

Herve Gaymard, the French finance minister, said not all countries had to accept the offer of a debt freeze. "Some countries - I'm thinking, for example, of Thailand - do not wish to benefit from this moratorium, simply because they have a lower level of debt than others and they don't want their name to be downgraded on financial markets," he said.

A freeze in debt repayments could offer short-term gain but bring long-term pain as the cost of servicing debt may rise in the future.